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Over the last few months, we have all been watching a
steady increase in the awareness of keeping our country clean. The Swachh Bharat
campaign and the subsequent photo-ops by various ministers trying to out-do
each other appeared on all our front pages, sadly in some cases, bringing the
dirt with them to pour onto the streets. I really could write volumes on what I
thought of such deliberate acts by ministers to be relevant but the truth is I
do wish to talk on an aspect of our lives that desperately needs to be given
priority as far as cleanliness is concerned.

I am referring to the state of hospitals in India. Look
beyond the plush tertiary health care centres for a moment. The vast majority
of patients (> 85 %) in this country do not have access – either financially
or just geographically - to them, after all. India, by and large, walks into
primary and secondary health care centres when they have a cold, fever, infection
or pain. And it is this section which caters to the majority that I feel has
been neglected for too long.

If you recall earlier in November 2014, a state-run
hospital in Indore called in exterminators to deal with ‘an infestation’. Only
this was no minor bug infestation as it turned out. In two days, over 4,000 rats
and mice were killed. The pest and fumigation agency noted with shock that
there were at least another 10,000 rodents in the hospital and it would take
over a month to get rid of all of them.

This was one of the biggest government run hospitals in
Madhya Pradesh and included a medical college. They looked after people of all
ages, ranging from 1 day old to a hundred years old all within that single
campus which HAS (the extermination is still underway as I type this) more
rodents than you and I will ever see in our lives.

The sad part is that this is nothing new.

Image source: hereMaternity ward shifted outdoors due to construction work.How is this okay in today's India?

Come into a packed government medical college out-patient
department on any day of the week. What do you think you will see? Hundreds and hundreds of
patients and their relatives, jostling for space to stand as they wait outside
cramped corridors.

There are people groaning in agony and sneezing and coughing
all over one another, infecting everyone around them. General wards are usually
overflowing, with patients sleeping on the floor after the beds are taken.

Rats, cats, dogs, frogs, monkeys, snakes… these are all animals I have
personally seen inside hospitals.

Cleaning the roads is fine… it is the first step towards
fulfilling the ‘prevention is better than cure’ concept. But that concept is at
least a decade away (optimistically)
from fruition. Till then, you need to be able to cure those who are ill
without allowing them to share illnesses at the very place they come to be
cured.

I was still an intern after passing
my MBBS when I started this blog back in 2005. I had no idea if I would pass an entrance exam for a postgraduate seat, get into a good college, pass from there
or even be a good doctor. Literally
lakhs of words later, I am here: a consultant anaesthesiologist having done
thousands of surgeries over the last 7 years, saving limbs and lives while always
struggling to find a decent pair of scrubs that fit me.

If the past few years were hard
in real life, it was made easier because my blog carried me through. The posts
reflected my inner conflicts on many an occasion, the truth hidden within
fiction and fables. Godyears was having a ball – stories getting published, an
online column, the odd title here and there. Meanwhile, I worked in the
background, be it in the operation theatre or in real life. There definitely was a sense of disillusionment... a feeling that I was not doing what I wanted to do; being who I wanted to be.I was too busy making a living to lead a life.

When I took up the #100HappyDays challenge
during the first week of January, I started off by showing you all my wish
board: the stuff I wanted to attract towards me this year. Sounds
silly, right? Something straight out of a television comedy sitcom? Well, here
is the wish board anyway… so how did I fare?

Harry Potter and the students of Hogwarts defending the school against Voldemort's army at the end.

Team Gandalf staying alive and distracting Sauron long enough for Frodo to complete his mission.

Even Ram's army of monkeys taking on the demon lord Ravan and his huge army in their own home ground and ousting Ravan.

A country divided by a hundred languages and castes uniting against one unassuming lawyer by the name of the Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and freeing the land without raising his hand.

I would like to believe that they all stood there, seeing what they were up against and felt that fear rise within their hearts. The nagging dread that this was a battle they could not win. That the numbers were against them. It is irrelevant whether the tales above are from lore or legend. What matters is the lesson:

"That you can achieve the impossible if you stay united and work together. One step at a time."

When we go around asking for aid to help the needy, the usual questions asked are usually laced with skepticism and disdain, Oh, you are going to save all the poor people in India? You are going to feed all of them?

The truth is, there are those of us who sincerely wish we could if we had the cash. But we don't. As the popular ad says, we are not the 'children of Bambani'. With our regular salaries, we can afford to sponsor a child or two at best with our finances. We can talk it over with our friends and perhaps convince one or two more to join us... but that is about it.

Blogadda along with Akshaya Patra asks us to tell them how we can eliminate classroom hunger. How we can feed lesser fortunate children and keep them inside the classrooms. And then they tell me the answer to the question themselves:

I have had some crazy months in my life. Some decidedly evil ones too, to be frank. Which is why whenever anything good used to happen to me, I would always be looking over my shoulder, waiting for the "bad stuff" to reveal its presence.

A funny thing happened though over the last one year. I stopped caring about whatever could go wrong. Most of it was the fear of "what ifs" anyway rather than reality itself. Somethings were out of my hands anyway so there was no point sitting and worrying or regretting. And the universe did respond positively too with a whole lot of changes. But I would be lying if I said I have had many months as memorable as the last one. If 2014 has been about positive changes, October-November has been the cherry on top of this cake.

I attended my third book launch as an author in as many years (this time for Myriad Tales).

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt, thus checking "stay at 5 star hotel" off my bucket-list.

Waiter! Have one of these delivered to my home please!

I got to meet co-authors from many books in Mumbai.

I got to finally visit Blogadda at their office and catch up with the awesome team I credit with kick-starting my run of good fortune.

I came back and was goaded by this cutie pie to collaborate with her in a blogging contest which I had actually given up on since I had no hopes of winning myself.

Well, I WON (for this post that I am quite proud of since it is related to my medical field and the world today) - for those of you who are wondering, this was the FIRST time in 3255 days/8years 10 months and 29 days of blogging (not that I was counting or anything!) that I won a blogging contest. Seriously.

It is always nice to see someone you like succeed in life and watch a long cherished dream come true. Dr Priyanka Naik and I go quite a way back. We have never met in real life but we have been friends on the blogosphere for close to a decade now. In addition to being a healer residing in the 'Pearl of the Orient', she has now one more wonderful suffix to add after her name now - Author.
So what does it take to move up the literary ladder from writing in school to national magazines, blogs and finally having your own full length novel? Without further adieu, I will let the doc answer these and more.

1.Tell us a bit about yourself. Where/What/Why/How?

Umm…Interesting question! ;)

Dr Priyanka Naik

You might not even notice me. I am just another face in the crowd. My name is Priyanka Naik. I am a doctor by profession. I live in Goa, where I practice as a general physician and diabetologist.

As far as my journey in writing is concerned, words have always been my first love. I remember penning my first poem at the age of ten. It was published in an all India magazine called ‘Target’. Elocution and debates were a regular in school. Then, there was blogging, which I started in the year 2001. I remember writing on Rediffblogs first. After blogging there for roughly around four years, I eventually hopped onto Blogspot. I didn’t know how long the interest would last (My moods were very volatile back then, and this blog too was at risk.) But luckily ‘Nostalgic Moments’ (Yes, that’s the blog!) survived. It’s nine years old nowThinking back, I believe my writing has definitely improved over the years. Fortunately for me, so have my mood swings! ;)

Although I am a perfectionist by nature, I have a gypsy heart. I love traveling to different places and observing human nature at its best and worst. I don’t always understand logic. I am an emotional fool like that. But I am forever learning, taking notes from the world around me and trying to figure my role in the grand scheme of things.

What happens when you take some of the most creative innovators
and artistes, the best thinkers in various fields and the biggest entrepreneurs
in the country and put them together in a room over three days?

The recently concluded INKTALKS 2014 was held in Mumbai at
the resplendent Grand Hyatt between October 31st - November 2nd. This years’s theme – ‘Beyond Boundaries’
was especially appealing as it looked to erase all the man-made lines we have
drawn on the ground and in our minds and instead focus on what should really
matter: humanity.

Rather than conform to the regular concepts driveled out in
newspapers and organisations with not-too-subtle ulterior motives, INK – as it
has over the past few years – chooses to use a combination of the past, present
and the future to instead show you how you can make a difference. Hosted by the effervescent Lakshmi Pratury and with over six
dozen speakers and performers in attendance, the audience was treated to a diverse array of ideas from myriad walks of life, each with a unique and inspiring story to
tell.

There is no way I can attempt to do justice for all their
voices and all the innovations that were on display so I will focus on those
that still linger in my mind even now, days later.

Anshu Goonj, founder of the volunteer based
organization Goonj, used the theme of multiple “D’s” (from death to dignity)
and spoke on what the journey has been like looking to help those in need.

Raghava KK (Flipsicle) had a very interesting
concept on visual perspectives and the difference between what we see versus reality.

Music director Shantanu Moitra (with the aid of
actress-singer Monali Thakur) used the medium of music to provide insights into
the complicated relationship between two of the greatest minds of our country -
Rabrindath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, two friends with very different mindsets.
Their rendition of ‘Ekla Chalo’ and the story behind how Tagore used it to
motivate the Mahatma when he himself could not be there was simply magical.